Child Of The Forest by Judy Colella (read an ebook week TXT) 📕

By the time Saria found him, he’d recovered but was still smiling.

“Where did you go?”

“Here.”

“Why?”

“No reason.” He got up from the tree root on which he’d been sitting. “It’s getting late. May I walk you home?”

“I’d like that.” The smile she offered this time was somewhat shy and came with a blush.

Link gulped. He never knew what to do when she behaved like that and was glad she only lived one cottage away – walking further with her than that was suddenly a thing to be avoided. He had no interest in being anything more than a friend, despite the way others of his age had begun showing a tendency to gravitate toward members of the opposite sex. In his opinion, that kind of behavior was weird.

The fact was, Kokiri were not the offspring of one of another, but of their protector and life-giver, the Great Deku Tree. These children of the forest sprouted from the elements of earth, air, water and fire and were brought to life by the Deku’s natural magic.

They did pair off as adults, but not to procreate. Only for companionship and to raise newly-alive Kokiri did these unions take place. Their bodies were different from those of most other species in that they had no way to reproduce. They also never observed one another unclothed, so Link hadn’t been given a reason to question his own anatomy. As a result, he knew nothing about the way or why one Kokiri was attracted to another, so he didn’t understand his inability to feel about Saria the way she clearly felt about him.

When a Kokiri came into being, he or she began as an infant-sized child who was placed into the home of one of the couples. The child stayed with these two through the age of eight, whereupon he or she was given a tree cottage in which to live, to tend and keep clean, until adulthood was reached. Then the Kokiri and his or her chosen companion would work together to build a new, larger one, leaving their former cottages vacant for the younger ones to occupy. It was a very simple cycle, and had worked well for many, many generations for the forest people of Hyrule.

 But Link wasn’t thinking about these things at the moment. He was getting hungry and wanted to be alone. He liked doing things by himself, so when he left Saria at her door, he went home and practiced tumbling near the base of his tree-cottage. After a while, he climbed the ladder into his dwelling and ate his supper.

He ended up going to bed early – having crazy dreams was making it harder and harder for him to wake up in the mornings, and no one liked a lazy Kokiri. In reality, he wasn’t lazy at all, but sleeping late so frequently certainly made him appear that way. As he snuggled up on his bed, enjoying the fragrant breeze whispering through the open window beside him, he found himself hoping for a dreamless night.

As it turned out, it was a forlorn hope.

Flames and noise, gigantic four-legged creatures being ridden by strange-looking people, screams, a woman sobbing. Again. Just like the night before, only worse this time. And then something else…something…tiny. What was it? A talking mosquito? Calling him a lazy boy…how odd. How –

He opened his eyes, the dream gone in a quick fade, and sat up, giving his head an abrupt shake to try and clear it. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, but was too short for his feet to touch the floor, and in his post-nightmare stupor, wondered why they made the beds so high up.

“Link!”

He blinked – who was that? Why did the voice sound so small, or maybe far away? And what was that bizarre little light fluttering in front of his eyes? Was he maybe still asleep?

“Wake up, Link!”

He blinked again, pushing himself off the bed, and realized that he was, in fact, awake. He also recognized with considerable shock what he was looking at.

A fairy.

“Hurry, Link! The Great Deku Tree wants to see you!”

“Wait – who are you?”

“I’m Navi the Fairy. The Great Deku Tree sent for me and told me to be your companion!”

“Navi?”

“Yes!”

“So…now I have a fairy…” Disconcerted, he went to the wash stand and splashed water on his face.

“Please – there is no time!”

Nothing was making sense. Link gave the fairy a look of utter disbelief. “The Deku Tree sent you? Why? And why now?”

Navi did a kind of dance in midair, her color changing from sunny yellow to angry pink. “That is not for me to tell you, Link. You must come with me right now, but…no, first you must find something important. Without it, you cannot go near the Tree.”

Grabbing a handful of berries from a bowl on the table in the middle of the room, he popped one into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and nodded. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Navi the Fairy. What do I need?”

“Oh, Link, let’s just go! I’ll show you.”

“May I get dressed first?” He was wearing only his sleep tunic (which looked exactly like his regular one but without a belt) and nothing else. No boots. No hat. No…anything else.

“Yes, but dress quickly!”

“You’re very impatient, Navi the Fairy.” He went to a small trunk next to the bed and took out a fresh tunic, undergarments and hat. His boots and belt were on a low table near the door. “Um, could you wait outside?”

Making a high-pitched jingling sound, Navi flew out the door.

“Dang.” He got dressed, ran his hands through the tangle of blond hair he’d never been able to fully manage and tucked it into his hat, then belted the tunic and tugged on his boots. “Okay,” he called.

Navi flitted back inside but stayed near the door. “Let’s go!” She waited for him to reach her, then took her place above his left shoulder.

“I have to be dreaming…” He went out, and was about to start down the ladder when he saw Saria enter the hollow.

She waved and ran quickly to the bottom of the tree. “Link! I hear that a fairy has finally come to you! How wonderful!”

How had she “heard”? he wondered, especially since he was still not even sure himself it was true. Had someone made an announcement about it in the middle of the night or something?

That was another matter about which he’d spent some time in deep thought. Whenever anything important or of great interest occurred, all the Kokiri seemed to know about it at once. Except him. He’d always found out by hearing the others discussing it. Because he didn’t want to appear any weirder than he was convinced he already was, he’d never admitted his ignorance in such instances, but it bothered him a great deal. And now this.

Saria was still chattering happily as he climbed down. Something about how he was a real Kokiri now. “What are you going to do today?” she ended.

“Well, my…fairy is telling me I have to follow her to find something. I have no idea what.” He shot a sidelong glare toward the tiny being bouncing around next to his left ear.

“Ah, then I suggest you hurry! Fairies rarely lead us places unless the reason is a very important one. Good luck, Link, and congratulations!”

“Thanks, Saria.” She really was a good friend, and he appreciated her enthusiasm, even if he could have done with a little less of it so early in the morning.

The Kokiri Village wasn’t very large, but to a little boy it could, at times, seem huge – especially when he was still very tired from a night of disturbing dreams. As he bid good-bye to Saria and headed out of the hollow, he felt more like turning around and going back to bed than heading away on some quest for an unknown object. He said nothing to the fairy of either his vague curiosity or his weariness, though; he had a feeling she’d just get impatient with him. Assuming the tiny being was, in fact, a she. He almost stopped to think about this – it had never occurred to him before to wonder about the gender of fairies.

“This way, Link! Up there!”

To the left of the hollow was a rise, topped by a series of fences that led into a more open space. Here it was that the Kokiri went to train with their forest weapons, and here it was that the fairy indicated he should go. He almost pointed out that they were going in the opposite direction from the Meadow where the Great Deku Tree lived, but there seemed to be no point. She apparently had her own ideas of what he needed to do. Who was he to question her? Besides, he told himself as he trudged up the path, he ought to be insanely grateful to have been given a fairy at all.

A Kokiri named Wado was at the far end of the training ground, near one of the cliffs that marked the boundaries of the Kokiri Forest. While he looked younger than the other adults, he’d never been referred to as a child as far as Link knew, and had been there for at least as long as the boy could remember.

Wado was twirling a small wooden sword over his head and then bringing it downward in a sideways, whooshing slice, repeating this particular sword maneuver over and over, his face a mask of deep concentration. Either he was unaware, or was purposely ignoring Link’s approach.  

At the boy’s shoulder, Navi suddenly grew brighter. “Hey!” she called in her teensy voice. To the boy’s ear, it sounded strident but not very loud.

To Wado, however, it must have been very loud indeed, for he stopped his exercise, looking startled, and turned toward Link. “What’s this?” He lowered his sword and came closer. “You have a fairy, do you? Thought I’d heard something about that, but didn’t believe it. None of us believed it would ever happen!” He chuckled, putting his head to one side to regard Navi with open curiosity.

This caused Link to wonder once more where someone – anyone – else in the Village would have heard about Navi. But again, he didn’t bother to ask, not so much to avoid admitting his own ignorance, but mainly because he didn’t feel like hearing the sarcastic tone that usually accompanied answers to his many questions. Still, it almost made him angry that what were enigmas to him, were points of common understanding for the other Kokiri. What was wrong with him, anyway?

“What’s that?” Wado was saying, addressing Navi. “He does? Oh! Well, in that case, he’ll need something with which to practice!” He shifted his gaze to Link and smiled. “This is quite an event!”

“What is?”

“Seriously? Link, wake up, boy! Your fairy has told me of you being called by the Great Deku Tree!”

“Oh. Yes, well. That. I